Roger Goodell spent the better part of three decades climbing his way up the NFL ladder, starting as an intern in 1982 before being named the league's commissioner in 2006. But in the space of three days since TMZ released a video of Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice decking his then-fiancée (now wife) Janay Palmer out cold in a hotel elevator, Goodell's decades of true-blue company man loyalty may have disintegrated right through his fingers.

Has the fallout from the Rice video become so toxic, so overwhelming — eclipsing what should have been a week of breathless hype following the first Sunday of NFL games — that the league's 32 billionaire franchise owners will decide Goodell is now a business liability? If so, he's likely gone. If Goodell is internally deemed a public embarrassment but not a threat to the bottom line, he likely stays.

The mounting pressure on Goodell reached its nexus on Wednesday afternoon when the Associated Press dropped a bombshell report that, way back in April, the NFL had access to the video TMZ leaked Monday. That video showed Rice hit Palmer with his left hand before she falls, hits her head on the elevator's handrail, and lands unconscious on its floor.

A video released not long after the Feb. 15 altercation showed Rice dragging his an unconscious Palmer out of the elevator. The video released Monday, however, prompted Goodell to renege on his initial two-game suspension of Rice in favor of an indefinite ban from the NFL, while the Ravens terminated their star running back's $35 million contract.

Wednesday's AP report directly contradicted what Goodell told CBS — one of the league's TV partners — in a cushy interview the night before. He told Norah O'Donnell that "no one in the NFL, to my knowledge" had seen the visceral second video.

"We assumed that there was a video," Goodell said. "We asked for video. But we were never granted that opportunity."

Ray Rice was all smiles during a pre-season game against the 49ers on Aug. 7.

Image: Nick Wass/Associated Press

So the question became: Is Goodell an outright liar? Is the NFL front office so incompetent that the video could have been sitting in the NFL's hands this whole time, and was simply overlooked? Or did the video get ignored by some combination of the two in an act of willful ignorance?

Regardless, it looks bad for the NFL. And it looks bad for Goodell. Simmering for months, public outrage over the NFL's domestic violence problem has now reached a rolling boil. Even Congress is getting involved. The negative attention opens up a new set of doors to hallways the NFL doesn't want to go down — starting with the nonprofit status that exempts it from federal taxes, and its years-long coverup of the dangerous longterm consequences concussions have for players.

The NFL is 'looking into it.' That's reassuring.

The NFL was swift and steadfast in its denial of any knowledge of the damning second Rice video.

"We have no knowledge of this," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told CBS following the AP report on Wednesday. "We are not aware of anyone in our office who possessed or saw the video before it was made public on Monday. We will look into it."

Meanwhile, a growing chorus of pundits, including Keith Olbermann, are calling for Goodell's head.

But when it comes down to Goodell's future, make no mistake: This is about money, not morals. Guts, glory, and love of the game are all great — but pro sports are big-money business. It's that simple.

In order for Goodell to be ousted, 24 of the league's 32 owners — the people he essentially works for — must vote him out of office. With the NFL more profitable than ever before (the guy got paid $44 million in 2012), that seemed unlikely — at least until Wednesday.

If money rules everything in pro sports, corporate sponsors are something of a bellwether. Just a few months ago, we saw pressure crank up on the NBA to depose racist owner Donald Sterling after sponsors of his Los Angeles Clippers started jumping ship.

So the fact that this is the first public comment from a major NFL sponsor is a bad sign for Goodell.

@LisaHorne As a league partner, we are closely following the situation. We trust that the NFL will address the matter appropriately.

Another tolling bell is when your own league's players openly talk trash about you on Twitter, as happened to Goodell on Wednesday, courtesy of San Francisco 49er Anthony Davis and former Pittsburgh Steelers star James Harrison.

Finally, there's Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, who was presented with a humanitarian award from a Charlotte nonprofit on Wednesday night. Goodell was supposed to attend the event, but didn't go after the AP's Wednesday bombshell hit, according to multiple reports. During the presentation, Richardson broke down while accepting his award, insisting that he stands "firmly against domestic violence, plain and simple."

"Do I think he would have said what he did tonight if the second Ray Rice tape wasn’t released and opened the flood gates of emotions? That’s a good question," Black and Blue Review founder Bill Voth told Mashable. "I don’t think so, but the night was about defending 'human dignity, justice and moral courage,' and it would have been tough for him to ignore what’s happening with one of his employees right now."

So, will Goodell stay or will he go?

Late Wednesday night, the NFL announced that former FBI director Robert Mueller III will conduct an independent investigation of the NFL's handling of the Ray Rice case, which will be overseen by Steelers owner Art Rooney and New York Giants owner John Mara.

Earlier on Wednesday, Mara deemed the idea of Goodell's job being in jeopardy as "misguided." That might shed some light on the eventual outcome of Mueller's investigation; despite the calls for his removal, the smartest bet is probably on Goodell retaining his job as commissioner.

Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson's stellar performance against the Giants on Monday night has been completely overshadowed by Ray Rice and Roger Goodell.

Image: Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

But here we are, four days after a stellar opening NFL weekend, one in which the defending champion Seattle Seahawks looked dominant and Lions megastar Calvin Johnson put on a jaw-dropping performance full of the types of highlights that made so many fall in love with the NFL in the first place. Yet neither the Seahawks nor Johnson are on anyone's radar; the NFL conversation among fans and non-fans alike is all Rice, Goodell and domestic violence.

While we wait to find out Goodell's fate, know this: Any NFL commissioner's No. 1 job is to grow the league so its franchise owners earn money. If the stench surrounding Goodell becomes so strong that 24 owners think he hurts business in the long-term, he's probably cooked.

But the NFL's billionaire ownership cabal won't simply bring in some do-gooder to run its ship. They'll bring in someone smoother, slicker and perhaps smarter than Goodell — but someone whose primary objective will be to ensure America's most popular sports league keeps printing money. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

The NFL might technically be a nonprofit organization, but it's no charity. Money is the motive, plain and simple. The last week of bungled image-massaging has made that more clear than ever. For most fans, that realization in the starkest terms will be Goodell's lasting legacy, regardless of how long he does or doesn't remain NFL commissioner.

Sports Fails

1. Golf Cart Fail

This runaway vehicle wreaked minor on-field havoc following a high school football championship in Texas last December. But a heroic bystander hopped aboard and put on the brakes.

No casualties occurred, and the clip immediately became Internet legend.

2. Penalty Kick Fail

Watch out for the ricochet, goalie! This kid gets it in the right in the chops.

3. Mascot on Rollerblades Fail

What happens when you put an inflatable dinosaur on rollerblades and ask it to skate down a flight of stairs? Amazingness, that's what.

4. Flopping Fail

In sports, to "flop" is to exaggerate the force of contact in hopes of drawing a favorable call from officials. But you've got to time it much, much better than this guy does.

5. Hockey Celebration Fail

Apparently, if you hug a member of the opposite team after scoring a goal in hockey, you will get punched in the face.

6. Innocent Bystander Fail

This kid is just in the wrong place at the wrong time...to the benefit of the rest of us.

7. Representing Your School Fail

College football mascots are supposed to represent their schools in a fun, positive light — which doesn't typically include picking fights. Here, the University of Oregon's duck slams the University of Houston's cougar.

Bonus points for the sick elbow drop, though.

8. Weightlifting Fail

Not saying we could successfully lift 432 pounds above our heads, but dang, that looks painful.

German weightlifter Matthias Steiner dropped this massive barbell on his neck during the London Olympics this summer, but escaped serious injury.

9. Trampoline Dunk Fail

Sometimes, when you fail, you actually win.

10. Hurdling Fail

Why jump over hurdles when you could just RUN STRAIGHT THROUGH THEM?

File under: Never, Ever Gets Old.

11. Paying Attention Fail

After what could best be described as an "optimistic" shot attempt in a game last season, NBA center JaVale McGee showed some nice hustle getting back on defense. Only problem? His team still had the ball.

12. Judgment Fail

But that wasn't McGee's only legendary moment. Here, he shows why it's not a good idea to try dunking from the free throw line mid-game.

13. Olympic Promo Fail

For some reason, London's Olympic promotions this summer involved hanging Mayor Boris Johnson on a zipline while waving a pair of tiny flags.

Then he got stuck halfway through and it was pretty much the best, funniest, awkwardest thing that could have happened.

14. Grand Slam Celebration Fail

Major Leaguer Kendry Morales broke his lower left leg while celebrating a game-winning grand slam in 2010. This edited video provides the before, during and after rundown.

15. Slam Dunk Fail

See? White guys can jump? It's just the landing that's the hard part.

16. High Dive Fail

The announcer here sums it up perfectly. She calls this attempt from the 1992 Olympics "an absolute failed dive."

17. Piggyback Ride Fail

What begins as an innocent enough piggyback ride atop a fuzzy mascot turns into a pretty epic collision — and YouTube gold.

18. Long Jump Fail

Dude! If you're gonna pump up the crowd like that, you can't just faceplant into the sand.

19. Touchdown Celebration Fail

When you think about it, is there any better way to celebrate a touchdown than by pegging an unsuspecting spectator in the face? Bonus points for originality, at least.

20. Pro Golfer Fail

You'd think a professional golfer could put the ball in the hole with less than 16 strokes. Kevin Na — and the rest of the world — found out otherwise on this par-four hole at the 2011 Valero Texas Open.

21. Head-First Slide Fail

Well, that's one way of doing it...right?

22. Time Management Fail

Tie game, clock winding down — it's always better to get one last attempt up than just let the game go into overtime. A full court desperation heave with a 11 seconds to go is never the way to do it, however.

This classic gaffe by the University of Connecticut's Roscoe Smith came during a matchup of top teams in 2011.

23. Boogie Boarding Fail

Its veracity may be suspect, but this 2008 YouTube classic has more than 12.7 million views, despite a mind-numbing soundtrack.

24. Sportsmanship Fail

The summer of 2011 was a tough time for NBA star LeBron James. It was full of lingering ill-will for his decision to the leave the Cleveland Cavaliers and snarky schadenfreude over his initial failure to win a championship with the Miami Heat.

So it makes perfect sense that he'd let off some steam by viciously dunking on a tiny kid at summer camp, right? That's what happens at the 0:43 mark of this video.

25. Standing on a Basketball Hoop Fail

We're not quite sure why this mascot thought standing on top of a basketball rim was a good idea.

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